Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from  Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life.  In today’s class we worked with the fifth invitation to cultivate “don’t know mind.”  This invitation seems to mirror queries found in the ancient Tao Te Ching.  We drew inspiration from Ursula Le Guin’s elegant translation of the “Book About the Way and the Power of the Way.”  She described it as “. . .  the most lovable of all the great religious texts, funny, keen, kind, modest, indestructibly outrageous, and inexhaustibly refreshing. Of all the deep springs, this is the purest water. To me, it is also the deepest spring.” Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class drew inspiration from the symbolism of darkness and light.  We used contemplation and movement to explore the different feeling states we have in association with darkness and light.  We used the breathing practices of Chandra Bhedana and Surya Bhedana to tune into the darkness and light in our experience and psyches. Zen poet Jane Hirshfield’s poem evoked imagery to further the journey.   We also discussed the concept of the shadow in Jungian psychology.   Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from  Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life.  In today’s class we continued working with the fourth invitation.  Frank encourages us to create the inner safety we need in order to feel our fears.  In his beautiful poem Everything is Waiting for You, poet David Whyte challenges us to open ourselves up to the world.  We explored the following guided meditation to feel the abiding support of the earth as if we were held in loving arms.

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Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from  Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life.  In today’s class we continued working with the fourth invitation.  Frank encourages us to accept fear as our teacher.  Can we remain present with feeling our fears long enough to learn from which well they spring?  Activist, teacher and farmer Steven Jenkinson’s book Die Wise contains a similar message:  to wonder at the truly awesome nature of life – to witness each other so that we may think “unauthorized thoughts.”  And finally, American theologian and writer Frederick Buechner urges us to listen for “The unexpected sound of your name on somebody’s lips. . . . The moment that brings tears to your eyes.  The person who brings life to your life.”

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Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from  Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life.  In today’s class we continued working with the fourth invitation.  Frank invites us enter a more intimate relationship with ourselves as we rest in life’s pauses.  He encourages us to be aware in the still point, at the threshold of life’s infinite possibilities.  Can we be present for what surfaces from the still point at the heart of intimacy?

We also drew inspiration from bodymind therapist and poet and writer, Jennifer Williamson.

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Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from  Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life.  In today’s class we continued working with the fourth invitation.  Frank invites us to reflect on how meet the many endings in our lives – a powerful teaching about life’s impermanence.

We also drew inspiration from bodymind therapist and poet, Donna Martin.

Guided Relaxation

Welcome . . . to this moment . . . to this breath . . . to this peace . . . Can you sense the breath without having to change it in any way? Can you follow the journey of the incoming breath from the tip of the nose all the way down . . . into the belly? And resting your attention here to observe the subtle moment of transformation when the inhale becomes the exhale. And then following the breath beginning its long journey up and out of the body. . . . At the very end of the exhale, there is a . . . pause.  Frank says it can be a moment of fear or faith: breath has left the body and we don’t know for certain if it will return. Do you trust that the next in-breath will emerge on its own? Can you rest your mind in the pause?

He suggests that here we can begin to look at endings . . . the end of an exhale . . . the end of a walk . . . the end of a an ordinary every day activity . . . the end of something precious and rare . . . We can reflect on how we meet endings in life. Do we remain present or absent ourselves? Dow we feel anxious or sad? Are we indifferent or do we withdraw into a protective cocoon? How do we say goodbye?

What is our relationship to change? The way one experience ends shapes the way the next one arises. Can we let go? Do we cling? Our breath gives us the chance to study our relationship with endings in an intimate, primal way. Breathing is alive and ever changing . . . each breath unique . . . it is born, grows, it fades and dies away . . . . it mirrors the process of life itself. . .

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Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from The Five Invitations, Frank Ostaseski’swonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life in connection with each other.  In today’s class we continued working with the fourth invitation:  to find a place of rest in the middles of things.  We also drew inspiration from Poet, peace activist and meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who is affectionately referred to as Thay by his many students.   Nearly all of his teachings on mindfulness emphasize living in the present moment – the gateway to inner peace.  Both teachers emphasize the importance of relaxing into the present moment so that we can allow life to unfold and lessen our habitual struggles. Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from The Five Invitations, Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life in connection with each other.  In today’s class we explored the fourth invitation:  to find a place of rest in the middles of things.  Frank advises that: “. . . If we hope to find true rest, we need to see clearly the currents that disturb us. . . To make real change, we have to dive deeper to understand the specific ways that we’ve been conditioned throughout our lives.”    Our mindfulness practice offers us the time and space to understand our conditioning and how it drives us to distress.  Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class draws inspiration from hospice counselor and author Frank Ostaseski and poets David Whyte and Mary Oliver.  British-American poet, David Whyte is a Whidbey Island local who also works to connect people in the workplace through his organization, The Institute for Conversational Leadership. He is a most inspiring speaker you can hear his TED talk, A Lyrical Bridge Between Past Present and Future. Mary Oliver is a treasured American poetic voice who won the Pulitzer Prize for her work in 1984 for her book of poems, American Primitive.  Both poets convey an evocative, poignant sense of being in those moments in which time seems suspended.  Their work surfaces in a spaciousness that allows for connection and creativity.  Cultural anthropologist and writer, Angeles Arrien, added her perspective on the essential experience of rest in our lives.

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Our Moving into Meditation class draws inspiration from hospice counselor and author Frank Ostaseski and poets Pablo Neruda and Rabindranath Tagore.  Frank’s compassionate voice is joined by Neruda’s experience of social activism in 1920’s Chile and later exile.  Tagore lived during India’s colonization under the British.  He was a prolific writer,  composer and educational reformer.   Both these creative geniuses won the Nobel Prize for literature.  Past and present voices  encourage us to keep our hearts open and realize our deepest humanity. Continue reading →